


Mordant Red 19

by autumndynasty



Category: American McGee's Alice
Genre: Abstract, Other, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-08
Updated: 2012-03-08
Packaged: 2017-11-01 16:13:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/358773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/autumndynasty/pseuds/autumndynasty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Abstraction of toxicity: nothing can stay perfect forever, especially not a young girl's imagination.</p><p>Freeform abstract not-quite-poetry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mordant Red 19

**Author's Note:**

> Before we begin, I promise there's a meaning buried in here amid the pretentious artyness!

**.19**  
 _(..)  
.:or luck of the draw:. _

A quiet yawning below a quiet awning.

A little girl wakes.

Wakes.  
Wakes.  
Breaks  
the silence of the evening.

She places a card.

_Three of clubs goes first._

A woman with white hair paces through the smoke. A wolf with a gun. A wolf with an aim and a wolf with a memory. A black dress fazes through the wisps of grey about the woman who is grey, a steely sky flying below. Searching, _searching_ , **searching**. The next awaits.

Feral grinning is light as a lantern.

claws scratch hearts in stone.

Blood from a stone. Blood from a king. One that never came to be for he plays against the Red Empress's Might. Scarlet eyes open wide and crimson lips form words:

_Play, struggle nine of hearts._

Alizarin hair flutters past yellow cats-eye. Cat's eye. _Mordant red 19_. **Irritant**. Toxic? The world is poisoned no more and the pieces are still. New pieces to wage the war of the Goddess. The war of the Sacrifice.

New forms to old ideals and a new perspective to colour the edges.

**..me.**

The players assemble and the pieces wait. Cat among the pigeons, feathers dance in the wind.

You know why you are here, my dear. _You know what you must do_.

Continue to play. Continue to fight, little girl. Not so little girl anymore. Little mess of white and red on a black piece of card shaped like a snowflake.

_Having a bath in a teacup sounds like a wonderful idea._

_I think you'd fair better out in that rain._

_It rains?  
It rains.  
It rains  
teardrops._

_Not anymore._

Wide eyes turn past the awning, running down the street.

_Without a care. I care for my paws, claws, jaws._

_And I care for you._

Cards scattered. A cut deck resting on a chessboard.

Oh, Alice.

**Author's Note:**

> 52 card pickup has always been deadly in Alice's wonderland. This one dates from 2006! Decided to repost from my old FFNet account. It barely makes any sense to even me anymore but there we have it! I'm fond of it nonetheless.


End file.
